The Graham-Cassidy bill is another quick fix, which is one more poorly thought out bill which will drastically impact the people least able to withstand such a measure. When the majority of Americans reach the age of 65, they do not have a lot of savings or retirement plans. They have to be very careful of every penny they spend and cannot begin to afford to higher costs of pre-existing conditions. And most of these conditions are deadly if untreated or treated improperly.

The fact that the bill is being rushed through the approval process is very alarming. Why are they is such a hurry? Because they know it is a disastrous bill and would be unacceptable if scrutinized. Many senators and congressmen will want to pass the bill as a cost-saving measure, but we can ill afford this kind of cost saving.

Karen Goodloe,

Las Cruces

Letter was response, not self-promotion

This replies to a bizarre and unwarranted personal attack on me published by the Sun-News on September 23, in a letter to the editor signed by Mr. Ron Washburn.

Mr. Washburn claimed that a previous letter from me, which the Sun-News published on September 14, was a “shameful” and “pathetic attempt” to promote my book, and that it was an inappropriate subject for a letter to the editor. The most obvious fallacy of Mr. Washburn’s claim is that unless he is a mind reader, he cannot possibly know what my motive was.

My letter was a timely, pertinent response to a commentary by Andy Slavitt, the former acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The Sun-News published Mr. Slavitt’s article on September 10. My letter noted that my book, “Mary Regina’s nursing home,” published in July but ignored by the Sun-News, had quoted Mr. Slavitt and criticized CMS, which oversees nursing homes, for using the taxpayer-funded CMS press office to crank out self-promotional press releases. I also pointed out that while complaints about nursing homes went up 21 percent, nursing home enforcement actions went down 41 percent under CMS’s oversight.

So, my letter and book (described at wbeerman.com) discuss matters of public interest, and they contain substantive, factual information that is useful to the public, especially consumers of nursing home care.

As a former managing editor for a daily newspaper myself, I have a frame of reference for evaluating letters to the editor and Sun-News editorial decisions. I think Mr. Washburn’s letter is the one that was inappropriate, because it was personal, utterly devoid of news value, and apparently malicious.

William Beerman

Las Cruces

Family members of victims support wall

Sadly, only about 25 percent of U.S. Republican legislators support a border wall. This is not surprising given that this elite group too often doesn’t represent the American people, even though that’s their job.

One group that gets it is the group of family members of victims killed by illegal immigrants. Their call for a wall is loud and clear in any language. This group’s deceased brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers and sons and daughters were dreamers too until barbaric border bandits robbed them of their precious dreams and lives.

Those family members’ painful and anguished cries should reverberate so loud in the halls of Congress that they penetrate the ears of even the most tone-deaf legislators.

To ignore their cries would only add insult to injury or death.

Paul Hoylen,

Deming

Melania need not look far to find cyber-bullying

Melania Trump has claimed cyber-bullying as her cause, and she recently spoke to the United Nations, saying that we are to use the Golden Rule as our standard as to how we are to treat one another.

This is all well and good. However, she needs to look no closer than her spouse, President Trump, to see how it is not being instituted. He has continuously been a cyberbully, and he has no bounds as to whom he chooses to insult.

Before Melania Trump tells the whole world how we should treat one another, she should put her own house in order.

Kathleen Sampson

Las Cruces

Sad to see young lives taken by drugs

It’s so sad to see our young children’s lives being taken away by the usage of drugs. Even seeing older people saying it’s the answer for a lot of problems.

We might even be at the place where our sports figures should be tested before starting a game. Where does it all end? As long as there are young people who will compromise their health, we will become a civilization of robots. Sorry to say, it’s become a new God.